When is the US monthly jobs report (NFP) and how could it affect EUR/USD?

Friday's US economic docket highlights the release of keenly watched US monthly employment details, popularly known as NFP. The report is scheduled to be released at 13:30GMT and is expected to show that the US economy added 180K new jobs during the month of February, down from the previous month's stellar reading of 304K.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is expected to ease back to 3.9% during the reported month, following an unexpected uptick to 4.0% in the previous month. Hence, the key focus will be on wage growth data, which have gained more traction in the recent past. Average hourly earnings are foreseen to post solid growth of 0.3% m/m, while the yearly rate is also anticipated to climb to 3.3% as compared to 3.2% previous.

Deviation impact on EUR/USD

Readers can find FX Street's proprietary deviation impact map of the event below. As observed, the reaction to the headline NFP print, in case of a relative deviation of -1.23 or +0.98, is likely to be in the range of 54-52 pips during the first 15-minutes and could stretch to 105-90 pips in the subsequent 4-hours.

How could the data affect EUR/USD?

Ahead of the key release, Yohay Elam, FXStreet's own Analyst offers important technical levels to trade the major: "Initial support awaits at 1.1190 that provided some support in recent hours. The next line to watch is 1.1176 which is the fresh 2019 low. 1.1110 and 1.1025 were substantial levels back in 2017."

"Resistance awaits at 1.1215 which was the 2018 low recorded last November. 1.1235 was the previous 2019 low seen in February, and it is followed by 1.1250, 1.1275 and 1.1290," he added further.

Key Notes

• Non-Farm Payrolls Preview: Labor market defiance

• US NFP Preview: 5 Major Banks expectations from February payrolls report

• EUR/USD: Bears may rely on US jobs report after ECB’s dovish surprise

About the US monthly jobs report

The nonfarm payrolls released by the US Department of Labor presents the number of new jobs created during the previous month, in all non-agricultural business. The monthly changes in payrolls can be extremely volatile, due to its high relation with economic policy decisions made by the Central Bank. The number is also subject to strong reviews in the upcoming months, and those reviews also tend to trigger volatility in the forex board. Generally speaking, a high reading is seen as positive (or bullish) for the USD, while a low reading is seen as negative (or bearish), although previous months reviews and the unemployment rate are as relevant as the headline figure, and therefore the reaction depends on how the market asses them all.